


The way's uncertain but we're together

by Etoile_Filante



Category: RWBY
Genre: Betrayal, Fairgame, Holding Hands, M/M, Trust Issues, Tyrian gets knocked out TWICE, post chapter 11
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:18:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22310131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Etoile_Filante/pseuds/Etoile_Filante
Summary: "Ironwood’s declaring Martial Law and abandoning Mantle! Salem is coming and he’s going to use the staff to move Atlas. If we don’t stop him, then Mantle’s going to be dest-The line went dead before Ruby could finish, but Qrow had heard enough."In the van with Qrow, Robyn (and Tyrian), Clover has some explaining to do and a side to choose.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Comments: 24
Kudos: 159





	The way's uncertain but we're together

**Author's Note:**

> Episode 11 broke me. This is my coping mechanism that I wrote way quicker than what I'm used to.  
> Please keep in mind that English is not my mother-tongue. I hope you enjoy!

_“Ironwood’s declaring Martial Law and abandoning Mantle! Salem is coming and he’s going to use the staff to move Atlas. If we don’t stop him, then Mantle’s going to be dest-“_

The line went dead before Ruby could finish, but Qrow had heard enough. Many years ago, he had expressed his distrust of James Ironwood and his tendency to abuse his power as an army General, but because the man had Ozpin’s trust and because Qrow had been desperate for familiarity when he arrived in Atlas, he had let his guard down. Now Ironwood and the Ace Ops were enemies. Right. The Ace Ops. Slowly, he raised his head and looked at their leader, looked at Clover, sitting right in front of him. The man had the decency of looking conflicted as he opened his mouth to say something. But Qrow wasn’t in the mood to hear it. He quickly stood up, took the two steps that were separating him from ~~the traitor~~ Clover and lifted the man to his feet by his collar.

“Did you know about this?” asked Qrow with a voice he knew wasn’t hiding his hurt. 

“Listen Qrow, I-”

“That’s a yes or no question I’m asking you there, pal. Did. You. Know. About. This?”

Clover was making a point of not looking at Qrow in the eyes and that was driving him crazy. All he wanted to hear was a “no”, all he wanted to hear was that the first person in years to take a genuine interest in him despite his Semblance wasn’t going to turn his back on them. 

“You think I’d betray you?” gently ask Clover, raising his head but still not looking at him.

“I think you’ve been the perfect little soldier ever since we met. I think you’ve known Ironwood for longer than you’ve known me. I think that you knew this was his plan all along and I think I WILL punch you if you don’t start telling me what I’m asking for” yelled Qrow, shaking the other man in a desperate attempt to make him talk. All he wanted to hear was a “no”.

“I…” started Clover. “I did know. But I didn’t think he’d do it. I told him this wasn’t the way to do things and he promised me he would search for an alternative. I did know but that’s not what I want and-“

“BULLSHIT!”

Qrow finally let go of his collar and took a step back, looking at his (former) partner with nothing but pain in his eyes. 

“Bullshit.” He repeated as he took another step back and let himself fall on the bench next to Robyn who had now her face buried in her hands.

“Well well well, seems like you are in some biiiiig trouuuuuble” teased Tyrian, effectively reminding the three adults of his presence. “You know, Clover was it? If you like betraying people so much, I’m sure my Queen would love to have you by Her side and I could put in a good word for yo-

He wasn’t able to finish his sentence as his entire body started shaking uncontrollably until, after a few seconds, he fainted and fell on the ground. Qrow looked to his right and saw Robyn with her crossbow in her hand. She felt the Huntsmans’ eyes on her and sighed.

“I just…I just wanted him to shut up… Electric arrow.” she explained

Qrow just nodded at her. He was glad she managed to take him down, just for now. He had other things to deal with. Suddenly, in the silence of the van, he felt like he had the whole weight of the world on his shoulders. He was doing better, he was! He had quit drinking, James and he were on good terms, he could keep an eye on his nieces and their friends, and he had found someone to… he didn’t even know. He had found _someone_. Now Ironwood was revealing his true face, the kids were probably in the middle of fighting older, more experienced adults to escape being _arrested_ and his someone was sitting right in front of him with what now seemed like a wall between them. He really wanted to drink.

“I trusted you, Clover….” He started, not being able to control the slight shaking of his voice. “I trusted you and you couldn’t trust me back. Seriously, what was the meaning of the past weeks? What game were you playing? I don’t get it.”

“Qrow listen _please_ ,” begged the Ace Op leader, not moving from his seat. “I told you, I thought General Ironwood and I had agreed to give up that plan. I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t.”

“You were supposed to be my lucky charm…”

Qrow heard Clover gasped but couldn’t be bothered to find the strength to look at him. Disappointment, betrayal and the bitter feeling of losing were all too familiar to him, but this new blow was too much. He put too much trust in a man he didn’t know a lot about, and this was the result. Fooled like an amateur.

“You really have nothing more to say?” said Robyn, breaking the heavy silence that had taken over the van once again.

“I have a lot of things to say. I just want to be sure I’ll be heard and that I’ll be given a real opportunity to explain myself.” answered Clover, making a point to look directly at Qrow who still refused to look up. How dare Clover act like he was the victim when Qrow was the one who could feel his heart breaking?

“Riiight. I’ll tell you what. If you let me use my Semblance on you, we’ll let you explain your side. Deal?”

“Works for me” said Clover.

He stood up, walked on Tyrian’s hand for good measure and went to take Robyn’s hand. The Mantle Politician looked at Qrow and asked if he wanted to start the questioning. And honestly, he wasn’t too sure. But still, he nodded at her and turned his body so he would face Clover and for the first time since Ruby’s call, the two men looked at each other. Qrow tried to pretend he didn’t feel the need to take him in his arms and keep them out of this terrible reality. But he couldn’t hide between misplaced trust and bottles of alcohol anymore. 

“Did you know about Ironwood’s plan to apply Martial Law?”

“I knew he had this plan in mind. I thought I managed to change his mind.” And his hand went green.

“When did you understand he would put this plan in motion?”

“Tonight, with Ruby’s call. Just like the two of you.” And his hand went green.

“Why didn’t you tell anyone Ironwood even _considered_ this plan?” intervened Robyn.

“I didn’t want to worry anyone. You all had too much to worry about.” And his hand went green.

Even now that Clover had been confirmed as not being a traitor, Qrow couldn’t relax. And how could he? The situation seemed slightly better than it was before, but it still was shit. He could only think of one finale question to ask before accepting Clover back as his partner and friend.

He stood up and looked at Clover’s face, his eyes flickering with determination as he asked his most important question yet.

“Which side are you on?”

There was a moment of silence which Qrow could only assume meant that Clover was thinking about his answer. He didn’t like that. His question was easy, was Clover trying to find a way around it? Before Qrow could tell him to hurry, he spoke again,

“I’m on the people’s side. I’m a Huntsman, it’s my job to protect the people who can’t protect themselves. And that’s not what the General is doing right now. I’m on your side, Qrow.”  


And his hand stayed green. And the asshole had the audacity to smile.

“So? I’m still part of the team, right?”

Robyn let go of his hand with relief written all over her face. She and Qrow looked at each other. They didn’t have a reason to doubt the man anymore, he had proved his loyalty. Still, Qrow couldn’t shake the last bit of discomfort he felt. Realistically, he knew this was just the shook of the situation still affecting him, but he had grown so used to feel comfortable around Clover, this was just…weird. However, his crush had become the last of his problems lately.

“So” he said. “What now?”

“We need to get somewhere safe first. If we keep going, we’ll end up literally in the heart of the danger. Ironwood knows you’d never agree to this plan and as soon as he sees me with you, I’ll be busted too” explained the (former?) Ace Ops leader. “We need a plan.”

“What about Tyrian? We can’t exactly let a man like that in a corner of Mantle, trusting him to not try and break his handcuffs” pointed-out Robyn as she poked the knocked-out faunus with her muddy boot.

“We’ll see when we're safe. There’s no point in knowing what to do with him if we get arrested in the next ten minutes. Robyn,” said Clover, turning to look at the woman. “You know how to ride these vans, right?Judging by tonight’s events, I don’t need to worry about you being able to neutralize the pilot.”

“On it.”

With that, she opened the door to the front of the van with the two men watching. For a minute, they heard nothing, then the sound of a body falling on the floor and suddenly, the van was turning around. Feeling exhausted, Qrow sat down on the bench behind him and felt Clover sitting next to him. 

“You know you might have to fight Jimmy and your other buddies, right?”

“I…know” answered Clover with uncertainty still in his voice. “It won’t be easy, but I’ll do it. I want to do what’s right and I believe that’s what you and the kids are doing. And hey, being a Huntsman has never been easy anyway.”

“Tell me about it, Lucky Charm.”

Silence fell again in the van but this time, it was a more relaxed silence. So much was going on and even more was coming but for now, they could afford a short break. Still in silence, Clover reached for Qrow’s hand and intertwined his fingers with his own. And Qrow let him.

“Qrow… Do you think there’s any hope for one last conversation? Do you think General Ironwood would listen?”

“No. No he wouldn’t, and you know that.”

“Right… Well I guess we’re in for one hell of a fight. Mind if I keep being your lucky charm?” said Clover, tilting his head and looking at the man next to him with that soft smile of his.

“Yeah.” smiled Qrow. “I’m giving this privilege back to you. Don’t mess up.”

Before Clover could answer, they heard a groan coming from in front of them. Right. They had completely forgotten about Tyrian who was now beginning to wake up. Sighing, Clover stood up and reached for the heavy horseshoe hanging on his belt. 

“I’ll get it.”

All Qrow heard was the loud noise of metal hitting flesh and he took a moment to close his eyes and let his head rest against the airship’s wall. Things were not going to be alright, at least not right now. But he had Clover, his nieces and way more allies and friends than what he was used to.

He’d just have to trust love.

**Author's Note:**

> Soooo yeah ? This episode was exhausting and everything hurts. I firmly believe Clover will side with Qrow but the wait until next Saturday is going to be hard.   
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
